Climate Change

New Report: Equity-Oriented EV Infrastructure Development

Strategies for embedding community input in project design.

This is the second in a series of posts on CLEE’s new set of resources on Equitable Climate Infrastructure Investment. The national EV market could grow nearly tenfold by 2030. Many state vehicle emissions standards (led by California) are driving a transition to zero-emission vehicles over the coming decade, and state, federal, and private sector …

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President-Elect Trump vs. California: What Lies Ahead?

Credit: Freepik

Will It Be Environmental Law & Policy Deja Vu All Over Again? Or Even Worse?

Californians who care about the environment likely–and justifiably–feel whipsawed this week.  Former President Trump (#45) has re-emerged as President-elect Trump (#47), interrupted by the intervening four years of the Biden-Harris presidential administration.  (Actually, this presidential whipsaw has been going on for decades: think Bush Sr.-Clinton-Bush Jr.-Obama-Trump-Biden-Trump redux.) In general, California’s progressive environmental laws and policies …

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Is California’s Climate Resilience Funding Ready for the Future?

New CLEE Report Identifies Key Challenges and Opportunities in the State’s Adaptation Funding Landscape

As climate change accelerates, California faces increasingly severe threats to its communities, economy,  and environment. Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, sea-level rise, and worsening wildfires are among the risks stretching State and local resources and driving demand for adaptation funding. California has utilized its longstanding leadership in climate policy to confront these challenges, including developing the …

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A Framework for Equitable Climate Infrastructure Investments

Reframing Infrastructure Investments to Realize an Equitable Transition

Achieving climate goals requires significant investments in clean energy, transportation, and other climate technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and remove carbon from the atmosphere. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act have resulted in historic levels of public investment to transform existing energy and transportation systems and lay the foundation for emerging climate …

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The 2024 Election Outcome Could Boost the Case for Geoengineering

Reflecting Sunlight: Recommendations for Solar Geoengineering Research and Research Governance (2021) cover

A Trump victory would increase the odds that we will ultimately need to start blocking solar radiation as a last resort to limit climate change.

A Trump victory would increase the odds that we will eventually need to “break the glass and pull the red lever.”  To be prepared for that possibility, we would also need to do more in the short term to research various forms of geoengineering, their feasibility, and their potential side effects.  Basically, if you decide you’re going to start smoking a lot more cigarettes, you need to be prepared for the greater likelihood you’ll need chemo.

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Climate, Energy, and Environment on the Ballot

Ballot measures in Washington and California are especially important but others are worth noting.

The two biggest state initiatives are a $10 billion green bond proposal in California and a proposed rollback of Washington State’s new cap-and-trade program.  The outcomes of these and other initiatives will provide a barometer of public sentiment on environmental issues.

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The Walz-Vance Debate and Environmental Policy

After Hurricane Helene, Vance and Walz were pressed on climate change during the VP debate. Here’s everything they said on energy and the environment.

The subject of climate-fueled disasters figured prominently in the vice presidential debate. The CBS News moderators asked a question about climate change within the first few minutes, although the multi-faceted answers weren’t always factual and much of the post-debate discussion in newsrooms and spin room interviews centered on contentious yet civil exchanges on immigration and …

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Electric Shared Mobility:

Program Design Elements Can Produce More Equitable, Durable, and Successful Projects

Shared mobility—an umbrella term for any transportation mode shared among multiple passengers—has the potential to accelerate transportation electrification, air quality, and greenhouse gas reduction goals, meet the needs of underserved communities that most lack mobility access, and advance broader mobility equity goals. CLEE’s report, Electric Shared Mobility: California Lessons Learned for Equity in Program Design, …

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Let’s Make Tomorrow “National Climate Awareness Day”

Here’s the case for setting aside a day to think about climate change, and why that day should be Aug. 23

Creating National Climate Awareness Day would send a message about the importance of climate change.  It would also provide an occasion to educate Americans about the issue. If it can also celebrate modern science, and the contributions of women to science, all the better.  And all it would take is a Presidential proclamation.

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The Ins and Outs of Kennedy’s Environmental Positions  

His campaign website is a mashup of very different perspectives, from “back to the earth” to tech bro.

Working through his website seemed to reveal a broad effort to combine distrust of government and big business), belief in free markets, and valuing nature and the land for their own sakes. Kennedy offers an unusual blend of Sixties “back to the land” environmentalism with Tech Bro libertarianism.

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